What's with dogs rubbing their necks in feces?

Ask the vet

Published
4:00 am PDT, Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Q:Occasionally my two older Labs will seek out some kind of excrement and proceed to lie on their side and rub their neck in it, right around their collar. Is this to soothe some kind of irritation? To add a scent that would hide their own? This drives me nuts since they get filthy and smelly, so I'd like to understand why they do this.

A: I don't think anyone knows with absolute certainty why dogs roll in feces. The two most widely accepted explanations date to the ancestor of the modern canine, the wolf. It is theorized that rolling in another species' feces masks an animal's own scent, and thereby makes them a more effective predator. Rolling in a smelly animal carcass, another popular choice of dogs, is thought to be a way for the returning wolf to announce his "find" to the rest of the pack.

And, yes, dogs do lean into these substances with their neck and shoulders specifically, but nobody knows why. Another common time that dogs like to roll is after you give them a bath. This could be an attempt to cover up the perfume scent of shampoo or because their skin is itchy. In classes at the Humane Society of Sonoma County, we teach a command called "leave it." When a dog focuses on something in the environment, "leave it" means "stop paying attention to that item." The "leave it" command also works when you are walking your dogs and encounter something you don't want them to have contact with. In an environment that you can control, such as your own yard, the best way to keep your dogs from stinky stuff is to make sure there is nothing tempting for them to roll in.